counting occurrences

[Klaus]

Hi Michael,

yes, but that does not take doublettes into account what the thread starter asked for.


Best

Klaus

[RCozens]

Hi: What do you think would be the fastest and most efficient method of counting the number of occurrences of a number in a list? i

Hi Greg,
Here's another approach that might produce quicker results depending on the efficiency of the sort command. This assumes your numbers are in the variable, numberList.

Code: Select all

on countItems numberList
   put .25 into valueRange
   ask "Enter the target value"
   put it into targetValue
   put targetValue+valueRange into maxValue
   sort items numberList ascending numeric
   put itemOffset(targetValue,numberList) into firstHit
   put 0 into matchCount
   if firstHit <> 0 then
      repeat with itemNumber = firstHit to the number of items of numberList
         if item itemNumber of numberList > maxValue then exit repeat
         add 1 to matchCount
      end repeat
   end if
   answer matchCount
end countItems

This works for the small list I tested. Note: the target value should include the decimal point, but no decimal digits. This assumes your value range starts with the whole number (ie: 3.0-3.25, not 2.75-3.25.

Cheers!

[Fermin]

Code: Select all

function CountOccurrences haystack, needle
   set the itemdelimiter to needle
   return the number of items in haystack - 1
end CountOccurrences